Previews

Beowulf

We go all proto-Viking in this upcoming movie adaptation -- grab your axes!

Spiffy:

Use of movie assets; twin play styles; massive bosses.

Iffy:

Familiar mechanics; repetitive animation.

In a surprise treat at Leipzig's Game Festival, we got an unscheduled look at Ubisoft's upcoming movie-based game, Beowulf. Since the upcoming feature film will be using sophisticated, Polar Express-like computer animation techniques, the Ubisoft team has an unprecedented amount of integration with the movie's assets. Even models used in the film end up as models within the game itself. But how does the gameplay look, a short few months from the game's release alongside the film?

The Strength of 30 Men

The game's storyline covers the same period as the films, from Beowulf's confrontation with the monster Grendel and, 30 years later, his tragic conflict with Grendel's mother ("Beowulf" is a few thousand years too old for spoiler tags there). To give those bones some meat, the team has created a mythical prehistory that fits a world where a man might have the strength of 30, and where a beast like Grendel might live. In that logical expansion of the "setting" of the ancient poem, you'll play through the 30 years in-between the movie's events.

Described as "hack and lead," gameplay will force you to balance your time between finesse-free, brutal hack-and-slash gameplay and more refined, combo-orientated squad command gameplay. This "legacy system" tracks your focus on the two play styles throughout the levels, and your and your thanes' (troops) upgrades will reflect your focus as a player. The overall goal is to reflect the torn halves of Beowulf's heart, the berserker monster slayer and the noble king.

If you focus on your simple, savage solo combat, you'll grow more and more dangerous at it, although the specifics of how aren't being revealed. We'd presume there'll be bonuses to your carnal mode (see below), damage, hit points, and other personal stats and mechanics. But you'll find your thanes won't rally behind you, knowing that you'll just as soon let them die if it increases your kill count. That's right -- the NPCs will notice if you just let them get cut down like virtual cannon fodder. This is called the "carnal" upgrade route.

If you focus on your noble side, your thanes will grow more dangerous, getting upgrades to arms and armor between missions. Providing leadership is represented primarily by executing more complex attack combos during combat, which will bath you and your thanes in a blue glow. This represents high morale, improving their combat ability as they see you focus on tactics, not just bloodshed, and know they can count on you to lead them.

Both styles have real benefits. Carnal mode is accessible if you cause enough mayhem in the carnal style, putting a bloody haze over your view and increasing Beowulf's melee abilities to legendary status. But if you get your thanes' morale up enough in a combat, you'll find that (as one example of this early build) during lulls you can attempt to bring some of your fallen back to continue fighting. There will be a rhythm mini-game associated with doing so, but we didn't get to see it this week.